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A review by dmturner
How We Learn: The Surprising Truth about When, Where, and Why It Happens by Benedict Carey
5.0
"We all 'know' we need to be organized, to develop good, consistent study routines, to find a quiet place and avoid distractions, to focus on one skill at a time, and above all to concentrate on our work. What's to question about that?
A lot, as it turns out." (215)
Varying the setting in which you study, as long as you don't study in silent conditions, can improve your recall. Context cues are important. Distributed (or "spaced") practice is more powerful than longer and fewer periods of studying, with a longer period between sessions if the test is farther away. And forgetting something helps you learn it better the next time.
We do badly on tests because of the "fluency illusion," which is the belief that because we understand something now, we don't need to study it later. The best way to deal with the "fluency illusion" is to test right away. In fact, after preliminary memorization, a good two-thirds of your study time should be spent testing yourself. In fact, pretesting (taking a test before you learn anything) (as long as you get immediate feedback) has been shown to improve your later learning of the subject, even if you got everything wrong. And teaching the subject to someone else also helps.
Problem solving follows a different path from factual learning. The stages of problem solving include preparation (learning and studying the problem), incubation (walking away from it when you're stuck), illumination, and verification.
In fact, interrupting a job before it is finished tends to push it to the forefront of the mind and allows for percolation. The ideal pattern is interruption-percolation-reflection.
We believe in isolated practice, but varied practice (different circumstances, variations of the same problem) is more effective for both motor and verbal learning. Interleaving is also effective - "mixing related but distinct material during study" (163) It helps students decide on the appropriate kind of solution.
Sleep consolidates learning - REM improves pattern recognition, percolation, and interpreting emotionally charged memories; Stage 2 sleep improves motor learning; and Stage 3 & 4 improve retention and declarative memory.
In other words, in order to learn effectively, you need to include distraction in your environment and in your routines, you need to study less at any one time, you should take tests before and during the learning process, and you should start projects immediately instead of clearing the decks but interrupt them just when you get interested. You need to sleep on things, mix things up, and deliberately confuse yourself.
Or so Carey says. It's an enjoyable read, both as an overview of learning theory and as a set of things for teachers and learners to consider.
A lot, as it turns out." (215)
Varying the setting in which you study, as long as you don't study in silent conditions, can improve your recall. Context cues are important. Distributed (or "spaced") practice is more powerful than longer and fewer periods of studying, with a longer period between sessions if the test is farther away. And forgetting something helps you learn it better the next time.
We do badly on tests because of the "fluency illusion," which is the belief that because we understand something now, we don't need to study it later. The best way to deal with the "fluency illusion" is to test right away. In fact, after preliminary memorization, a good two-thirds of your study time should be spent testing yourself. In fact, pretesting (taking a test before you learn anything) (as long as you get immediate feedback) has been shown to improve your later learning of the subject, even if you got everything wrong. And teaching the subject to someone else also helps.
Problem solving follows a different path from factual learning. The stages of problem solving include preparation (learning and studying the problem), incubation (walking away from it when you're stuck), illumination, and verification.
In fact, interrupting a job before it is finished tends to push it to the forefront of the mind and allows for percolation. The ideal pattern is interruption-percolation-reflection.
We believe in isolated practice, but varied practice (different circumstances, variations of the same problem) is more effective for both motor and verbal learning. Interleaving is also effective - "mixing related but distinct material during study" (163) It helps students decide on the appropriate kind of solution.
Sleep consolidates learning - REM improves pattern recognition, percolation, and interpreting emotionally charged memories; Stage 2 sleep improves motor learning; and Stage 3 & 4 improve retention and declarative memory.
In other words, in order to learn effectively, you need to include distraction in your environment and in your routines, you need to study less at any one time, you should take tests before and during the learning process, and you should start projects immediately instead of clearing the decks but interrupt them just when you get interested. You need to sleep on things, mix things up, and deliberately confuse yourself.
Or so Carey says. It's an enjoyable read, both as an overview of learning theory and as a set of things for teachers and learners to consider.